Baseball has been and continues to be a very popular sport in the United States and in many foreign countries. With the development of better medical understanding of the stresses imposed on players, a variation of the baseball game known as T-ball has become increasingly popular as a means of avoiding injury to young players' arms from throwing baseballs at too early an age. The game of T-ball avoids the necessity of having a skilled catcher in order to retrieve balls thrown by a pitcher. T-ball is played by means of placing a ball on some form of mount where it can be hit by a player swinging a baseball bat in the same manner that a player would swing at a ball being thrown by a pitcher. The T-ball holding device is similar in several respects to many batting training apparatuses or batting tees which allow baseball players to practice their swing without the necessity of a human pitcher.
A successful T-ball apparatus requires that the device holding the ball be adjustable to accommodate players of different sizes. The adjustment should be easily accomplished in a short period of time.
Additionally, the pieces of the assembly should be strong enough to withstand the strength of being hit by a baseball bat when the batter swings and misses the ball.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,979,741 entitled “Batting Training apparatus” which issued to Butcher (1990), shows a batting training apparatus with a ball mounted on a vertical stand that enables a user to determine an improper swing.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,004,234 entitled “Adjustable Batting Tee” which issued to Hollis (1991) shows a batting tee in which the vertical ball holding member is movable with respect to the home plate base unit.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,388,823 entitled “Adjustable Baseball Batting Tee” which issued to Prieto (1995) also shows a batting tee in which the vertical ball holding member is movable within a plurality of locations within the strike zone.
U.S. Pat. No. D373,806 entitled “Batting Tee” which issued to Bunnell (1996) shows a batting tee unit in which the vertical ball holding member is movable within the confines of the home plate unit.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,556,091 entitled “Baseball Holder for Baseball Batting Practice” issued to Lin (1996) shows a baseball holder in which the ball holding member can be adjusted radially from and around the center of home plate.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,893,806 entitled “Batting Instruction Method and Apparatus” issued to Martinez (1999) shows a Baseball T that has two ball supporting members.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,897,444 entitled “Ball Support Batting Tee” issued to Hellyer (1999) shows baseball tee that has at least two interconnected arm members that pivot from the base.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,928,092 entitled “Batting Tee for Baseball and Softball” issued to Keeter et al.(1999) shows a baseball tee holder that includes a horizontal member with multiple ball holding means.
U.S. Pat. No. D410,052 entitled “Support Base for a Baseball Batting Practice Tee” issued to Davis et al. (1999) shows a batting Tee whereby the vertical member is slidably connected to home plate.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,358,163 entitled “Durable Batting Tee for Baseball” issued to Tanner (2002) shows an adjustable compression nut and an inverted flexible cone.
Additionally, there are several design patents that also disclose batting Tees: U.S. Pat. No. D430,243 issued to Alberti et al. (2000), U.S. Pat. No. D430,629 issued to Alberti (2000), U.S. Pat. No. D433,722 to Hsu et al., and U.S. Pat No. D451,566 to De Chenne (2001).
Unfortunately, the prior art patents fail to meet the light weight and easily transportable requirements associated with today's young players as well as the dictates of manufacture and shipping required in today's marketplace. Therefore, what is needed is a T-ball device which is easily transportable, light and durable, and can be easily moved from one playing location to another by young players.
Furthermore, what has become ever more important, is that the apparatus should be contained in some form of storage means which allows the components to be broken down into a relatively small space. The small space is extremely desirable since very often these items are made overseas and shipped to the United States. The volume of space occupied by the assembly will have a very large effect on the final price of the goods. The more compact the assembly, the lower the freight charges will be.